




Class_ 

Book_ *-&■-% _ 

S 

GopjTight N?_,_ 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 























































































. 


































\ 





























































































































































































t 




















The Promise of Life 






The Promise 
of Life 


A Preachment by 
Herbert Myrick 
to the 

New York Churchman's Association 



NEW YORK 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

I905 


.yv* 


U, ; ARY of 4r#g*KS4& 
jfWU dopies fiieCssSVBO 

OCT St l y 0& 

'oiJ^riant sisjt# 

* Cl 

f £ iT9 4 

i?OPY 8. 



Copyright 

1904 

By Herbert Myrick 






3 

$ 
















The Promise 
of Life 


Nature is the master artist- 

artisan. Her work is as full of life 
and activity as it is pulsing with 
eternal truth, sparkling with divine 
beauty, expressing a universal joy. 
There is indeed no death, only a 
rearrangement of natural forces for 
further usefulness and finer results. 
These forces are fundamentally two 
—positive and negative, a mystic 
duality that pervades all nature. 


The Promise of Life 

VARIETY, ORDER, UNITY 

The so-called ultimate atom is 
now believed to consist of corpuscles, 
some positively, some negatively 
charged, so infinitely minute as to 
dash hither and yon vast distances 
relative to their size, kept in ceaseless 
motion by their opposing forces, yet 
these forces so beautifully balanced 
that the result is one harmonious 
whole—the atom. Some corpuscles 
may indeed break away and join 
others—hence different elements— 
but their places are either filled or 
dispensed with—the harmony is main¬ 
tained. 

T KKWT.SE the heavenly bodies 
are kept in their places by the balance 


The Promise of Life 

of opposite powers—centrifugal and 
centripetal. As far as the sun is from 
the earth, relative to the sizes of these 
bodies, equally great is the distance 
between corpuscles within the atom, 
compared to their size. (All corre¬ 
sponding dimensions are proportion¬ 
al.) Yet atoms, like suns, seem to 
each possess an individuality of its 
own, but to be controlled by similar 
law. Here is the beginning of in¬ 
finite variety, governed by perfect 
order to make unity! 

A UNIVERSAL WHOLE 

BETWEEN these minimitudes 
and magnitudes behold the whole 
realm of nature and life, from the 
most simple forms to the most com- 

[3] 


The Promise of Life 

plex. Science tells us that “ every¬ 
where the material of the universe is 
the same, dominated by the same 
forces and laws.” Gravitation is uni¬ 
versal, yet is feeble compared to the 
power that holds molecules of water 
in a drop—the pressure of 20,000 
atmospheres. Physics teaches that 
“all matter has the same attractive 
force, drawn to each other, mass on 
mass, with even power.” 

Thus all matter is part of the uni¬ 
versal whole—its forms and compo¬ 
nents mere variations of primal cause, 
obeying universal law, force, intelli¬ 
gence, or whatever the term used to 
express the mystery. “Matter is the 
stairway by which the soul mounts 
to God ” is Bishop Keene’s allegory. 

[4] 


The Promise of Life 


ACTIVITY AND LIFE 

j^LCTIVITY, too, is characteristic 
of nature. All is in motion, noth¬ 
ing at rest—the endless succession of 
equilibriums causing ceaseless vibra¬ 
tion. Nature never tires. Her en¬ 
ergy is all pervading—it flows out 
from every object. 

That newest and most fascinating 
of the sciences, radio-activity, finds 
that particles or corpuscles of energy, 
some positive, others negative, are 
discharged from probably all sub¬ 
stances, to a degree, as well as from 
the glowing Crookes tubes, radium 
and uranium. Anode and cathode 
particles may not be primal matter, 
but they are certainly ubiquitous— 
nature is lavish with energy. 

[5] 


The Promise of Life 


OUBATOMIC forces are evidently 
behind the molecular activities that 
energize all matter and make nature 
the inexaustible storehouse of power. 
Her vibrations never cease—what are 
heat, light, electricity, color, magnet¬ 
ism, even gravitation, if not vibra¬ 
tions ? But motion is also part of 
the whole—it cannot be disassociated, 
yet how varied its manifestations 
within the scope of the overruling 
power! 

Life is motion. To this simple 
definition no one will disagree, how¬ 
ever widely opinions may vary at the 
interpretation of life. Hence life is 
universal, speaking broadly. The 
very crystals live! Van Schron dis- 
[ 6 ] 


The Promise of Life 

covered that “a living baby crystal 
swims away from its mother with 
spiral rotary motion, and in all crys¬ 
talline properties the living crys¬ 
tal is identical with the mineral 
form. ,, “In the rocks are going on 
changes analogous to those ascribed 
to plants and animals.” We can 
almost believe the farmer boy who 
<c knows that stones grow, because 
after picking them all up one year, 
there are just as many the next sea¬ 
son ! ” Who can now draw the line 
between the mineral and the organ¬ 
ism ? Verily, they also respond to 
law, blend their variety into unity. 

ASCENDING THE SCALE, 

behold that the more complex be¬ 
come life phenomena, the simpler its 

[ 7 ] 


The Promise of Life 

so-called constituents. Plants, ani¬ 
mals, man, consist mainly of four ele¬ 
ments—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, 
nitrogen, while apparently simple in¬ 
organic substances are often composed 
in larger proportion of a vastly greater 
number of elements. 

The finer the product, the fewer 
the parts! The divine artist employs 
no tools—no intermediaries between 
his genius and its result. 

The more spirit the less matter! 

Who can separate the one from 
the other? Says Emerson : “ Nature 
and spirit are two sides of one fact.” 
Is not their union testified to by 
their varied harmony? Again, here 
at the acme—variety, law, unity. 


[ 8 ] 


The Promise of L,ife 


THIS LAW IS TRUTH 


1 M ATURE never lies. As Tadd 
says: “All nature hums and vibrates 
with truth.” It is truth that governs 
variety and beauty through unity. 
Mark this: Everywhere the beauti¬ 
ful. In Shelley’s words: 

“ Spirit of Beauty . . . 

Thy light alone—like mist o’er 
mountains driven, 

Or music by the night wind sent 

Thro’ the strings of some still in¬ 
strument, 

Or moonlight on a midnight 
stream— 

Gives Grace and Truth to life’s 
unquiet dream.” 



I HE beauty of nature is the uni¬ 
versal expression of the Divine 


[ 9 ] 


The Pro?nise of Life 

Mind, a love past understanding. 
It appeals for the same truth, activ¬ 
ity, thoroughness, application, indi¬ 
viduality, skill, versatility, love and 
joy in us, and upon our part, that is 
expressed in God’s other handiwork. 

The perfection in detail and vari¬ 
ety in form and action that render 
so beautiful the natural objects with 
which we are familiar, are still greater 
in the world beyond the ordinary 
senses that is revealed only by spin¬ 
thariscope, microscope, microphone, 
spectroscope, galvanometer, eido- 
phone, bolometer, coherer, magnetic 
detector and similar devices . 1 



1 HINK of an instrument so del¬ 
icate that “ the work done by the 


[IO] 


The Promise of Life 

wink of an eye would equal a hun¬ 
dred billion of the units marked on 
its scale ! ” 2 The human mind hardly 
knows which to reverence the more, 
the divine skill embodied in nature, 
or the resulting product itself, or, to 
paraphase the poet's metaphor : 3 

“We know not which is most en¬ 
trancing, 

The skill that brings those 
beauties to us, 

Or these beauties themselves ad¬ 
vancing." 

NO TWO THINGS ALIKE 



whole universe, seen 


and unseen, no two things exactly 
alike—from the (i) primordial stuff 
or First Cause up through every form 


The Promise of Life 

and manifestation thereof to (2) the 
Divinity that permeates them all— 
except that these two are themselves 
evidently one, and thus testify again 
to the Anal unity of nature and of 
God. 

Throughout this oneness, faith rec¬ 
ognizes the mystery of a vitalizing 
spirit. As all matter seems to ulti¬ 
mately resolve itself into one Urstoff, 
so all mind seems to melt into one 
Thought, all souls into one Spirit . 4 

Variety, law, unity—every thing 
possessing its own individuality, yet 
part and parcel of one whole. 

FINDING THE PROMISE OF LIFE 

Now does not this glimpse into 
nature help much in finding the 

[>] 


The Promise of Life 

promise of life? Certainly it teaches 
that we humans are at one with na¬ 
ture, that the laws of nature are the 
laws of God, that to obey the one is 
to obey the other. 

Hence to reap to the full the prom¬ 
ise of life, we must “ get into gear” 
with nature , we must know how to 
live in harmony with physical and 
ethical law. This knowledge will be¬ 
come more general when Huxley’s 
idea of education prevails: 

“ Education is the instruction of 
the intellect in the laws of nature, 
under which head I include not only 
things and their forces, but men and 
their ways, and the fashioning of the 
will and of the affections to move in 
harmony with nature’s laws.” 

[ ’3 ] 


The Promise of Life 

Substitute for “intellect,” the term 
“organism” — for mere intellect is 
only one phase of our organic activ¬ 
ities— and Huxley's definition is 
complete. 

TO CARRY OUT THIS PURPOSE 

we must begin with the child, as well 
as with its parents. Yet how poor 
our knowledge for training children, 
and how rare the average parents’ 
capacity to use what little of such 
knowledge they possess! 

Pure air and plenty of it, plain 
but good food, healthful dress, natu¬ 
ral education, simple life, manners, 
morals, usefulness — how often chil¬ 
dren are deprived of these funda- 


The Promise of Life 

mentals, even by supposedly intelli¬ 
gent parents. Bodily health, mental 
vigor, cheerfulness of mind, physical 
activity, moral fiber, strength of will 
— how many parents endow their 
offspring with these attributes, or 
have the wisdom to impart or to 
develop these virtues? 

THE NORMAL CHILD 

possesses infinite capacity in divers 
directions, but how seldom is its 
experience and environment such as 
to early discover its natural bent, and 
train spirit, mind, eye and hand along 
the line of special capacity. 

The precious years of the early form¬ 
ative period. 

The evolution of human force and its 
conservation, 


The Promise of Life 

The wonderful energy of childhood, 
The development of skillfully direct¬ 
ed power, especially through the 
hands, 

The simple morality imbibed from 
nature, 

The marvelous curiosity of the 
unfolding mind, 

The extraordinary influence of first 
impressions, 

The evolution of useful originality. 
The intuitive love for the beautiful, 
The unconscious absorption of inspi¬ 
ration from nature, 

The generation of purpose, 

The natural development of spirit¬ 
uality : 

How feebly do present methods of 
child training utilize all these vital 
attributes as they unfold, and correlate 
them in such manner as to produce 
[ 1 6 ] 


The Promise of Lije 

men and women healthy in mind and 
body, firm of purpose, capable of 
doing well their work with hand, eye, 
mind and soul ! 

ONE MAY DO MANY THINGS 

N A T U R E teaches that, by a 
rational development, the normal 
human being may prove capable of 
doing many things well, not one only 
— that is, he will be an artist of 
numerous accomplishments. 

By artist, I mean possessing such 
mastery of himself, of wisdom, such 
capacity to do, such imagination and 
spirituality, that what he does do he 
will execute artistically, and enjoy to 
the full the satisfaction that comes 
from good work well done — whether 

[• 7 ] 


The Promise of Life 

on farm or in factory, at bank or 
office, at easel or in pulpit, on land 
or sea, with pen or sword. And the 
normal man may excel in as many 
different ways as are represented in 
the vocations cited. 

Infinite capacity in nature suggests 
variety of possibilities in the indi¬ 
vidual— though society and schools 
wrongfully seek to cast us all in one 
conventional mold. 

THE ENJOYMENT THAT COMES 

from thus developing and using all 
the potentialities of our being, as far 
as one is able to do so, is certainly 
not the least of life’s promises. To 
such progress there is no apparent 
limit. 


[! 8 ] 


The Promise of Life 


Your brain contains more cells 
than there are people on the earth, 
but only the barest outer fringe of 
these cells is now employed by even 
the highest intellect. By utilizing all 
the channels for Impressing the brain, 
and by employing all its channels for 
Expression — instead of but feebly 
using only a few modes of expression 
and impression, as does the aver¬ 
age human — these increasing actions 
and reactions develop more of the 
brain cells to the position of thought- 
fabric and action-fabric (sensory and 
motor centers), and promote the union 
of thought and action, resulting in 
deeds. To think without doing, is 
merely to imagine vain things. 


The Promise of Life 


STRENGTH GROWS HY USE 

If the brain is not actively employed, 
it weakens. If the hand is not used, 
it loses its cunning. (Indeed most of 
us are manually deformed, able to use 
one hand only, and that but imper¬ 
fectly, whereas we should be com¬ 
pletely ambidexterous, as are other 
animals.) 

If the emotions are not used, they 
wither. If the memory is idle, how 
quickly forgetfulness usurps its place. 
If the affections are stifled, they 
shrivel. If the imagination is dis¬ 
couraged, we are held down to the 
dead level of monotony. No one so 
blind as he who will not see, and with 
each day his blindness becomes the 


The Protnise of Life 

more complete. If we fail to “get 
busy,” the terrors of ennui follow. 

If the child is pampered, it grows 
up enfeebled. “ Cast the bantling on 
the rocks,” as Emerson puts it. Self- 
reliance comes only through tough 
experience, capacity through struggle. 
All nature testifies to these truths. 

HENCE-EVOLUTION 

the struggle for the survival of the 
fittest. Opposing forces throughout 
nature, opposing ferments in our 
physical body, opposing impulses in 
mind and soul. But observe that in 
nature calm follows storm, from the 
apparent conflict results evolution, 
progress, adaptation, improvement, 
truth, beauty—-evidences of love, 
mind, spirit. 


O] 


The Promise of Life 


Right here one of the most 

beautiful promises of life — to each, 
according to his individuality—no 
two humans alike, no two of anything 
precisely similar. “What is one 
man’s meat is another’s poison” — 
but there is enough of the right meat 
for each individual if we can only 
know how to get hold of it. 

THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 

John ward stimson’s re- 

markable book, “ The Gate Beau¬ 
tiful ,” 5 demonstrates conclusively that 
“Nature provides for every possi¬ 
ble material circumstance, while God 
adapts himself to every spiritual need,” 
if I may so express the mysterious 


The Promise of Life 

duality. Here we may recognize 
natural perfection and divine love. 

Does it not teach that the human 
affections are expressions of divine 
love, just as the marvels of nature 
express infinite capacity and perfec¬ 
tion ? As nature is convulsed by 
storm, so is man convulsed by passion. 
He is led astray by hope and fear, by 
error and ignorance, but even at the 
lowest, the divine spark is not ex¬ 
tinguished, but may be fanned into 
activity by the touch of human love 
and spiritual sympathy. 

LOVE AS A PURPOSE 

Indeed the cultivation and man¬ 
ifestation of love seem to be among 
the cardinal purposes of life. Self- 

C 2 3 ] 


The Promise of Life 

sacrifice, faithfulness, sympathy, for¬ 
giveness, helpfulness and other forms 
of sincere affection, add to the joy of 
the giver as well as the receiver. 

Yet love, like the spirit, is strangely 
intangible. Though expressed in 
words, deeds, feelings, this most 
beautiful evidence of divinity in 
humanity has never been “ isolated/’ 
to use the chemical expression. No 
more than the soul itself, can love be 
weighed or measured . 6 

Yet every human being, at some 
stage in his career, experiences human 
love, feels a stirring in sympathy with 
nature, and becomes dimly conscious 
that he is part of an infinite mystery. 
And love is itself the greatest mys¬ 
tery of existence. 

[*4] 


The Promise of Life 


The elevation of thought, the 
inspiration to deeds that shall endure, 
the desire for a better life, the appeal 
to all the finer instincts of one’s na¬ 
ture, when love holds sway, indicate 
that this emotion, or faculty, or spirit, 
is implanted in the human breast to 
be used, and that the joys arising 
from its righteous use are one of the 
charming promises of life. 

AND THEN THE SPIRIT 

— that uplifting force, more than 
love, that engine of the soul, which 
seems to never lack fuel, but gen¬ 
erates greater power the more it feeds 
upon itself—the spirit divine buoys 
up the fainting heart, inspires the soul, 
rejuvenates the mind, quickens the 

[25] 


The Promise of Life 

affections, encourages the will, aye, 
even regenerates the body itself. 

The more this divine force is 
used the greater becomes the strength 
of the spirit. It seems to be a co¬ 
operating of love, sympathy, hope, 
aspiration and of all those ethical, 
ethereal and divine emotions that 
are stimulated by communion with 
God, and still more stimulated by 
good deeds. 

I FIRMLY believe that soul-power, 
like other human attributes, grows by 
use — that these emotions of the soul 
are given us to be employed, and 
that their diligent and appropriate 
06 ] 


The Promise of Life 

use brings us to the very pinnacle of 
life's promise. 

Note that I say use — mere senti¬ 
mentalism, flabby contemplation of 
soul-possibilities, without action to 
transmute these emotions into deeds, 
are of comparatively little avail. One 
good act is better than a million good 
intentions. The soul rises upward 
through struggle, until one fully de¬ 
veloped in soul-power feels himself 
almost free from the limitations of 
the body. 

ILLS OF LIFE DUE TO IGNORANCE 

And close analysis reveals that 
most of the limitations of the body, 
most of the ills of this existence, 
arise from preventable causes, through 

[*7] 


The Promise of Life 

ignorance. Yet so generous is nature 
that wisdom, mind or spirit often 
effect a cure — that is to say, put the 
organism again in harmony. 

How alluring this idea of the one¬ 
ness of matter and spirit, of man and 
God, is shown by the readiness with 
which it has been accepted, both be¬ 
fore and since the time of Christ . 7 
Evidently millions employed this 
principle in the treatment of bodily, 
mental and spiritual difficulties, long 
before the day of Christian Science 
that makes this beautiful practice the 
cardinal tenet of its faith. And prob¬ 
ably the number now living who 
owe good health and good spirits to 
the application of this idea, is vastly 
greater than the excellent body which 
[, 8 ] 


The Promise of Life 

of recent years has done so much to 
advertise this old principle. 

LEARN HOW TO LIVE 

True it is that as we learn how 
to live, we shall have less of sickness, 
disease, misery, error — mind and 
spirit will be less weighted down, more 
free to carry out their aspirations. 

Therefore the minister competent 
to teach his people how to live here, 
is doing the best for their hereafter. 
He can help them to the fullest 
promise of this life by giving them 
less theology and more “human- 
ology,” less “ churchianity” and more 
Christianity, fewer abstract theories 
but more concrete aids to right living. 


The Promise of Life 


How to live — how to cook, eat, 
dress, sleep, do business, make a liv¬ 
ing, develop what is in us, do as we 
would be done by, or otherwise con¬ 
duct ourselves, and at the same time 
enjoy physical, mental and spiritual 
happiness — for such health is happi¬ 
ness— let preacher and laymen co¬ 
operate in all these respects if both 
would come to the full promise of 
life. We must 

MINISTER TO BODY AS WELL AS SOUL 

— more physiology and sanitation 
for the one, less theology and more 
spirituality for the other! 

Priest with liver trouble and par¬ 
ishioner with the bellyache, do not 
evidence that skilled Christian living 

[30] 


The Promise of Life 

which is so essential to the higher 
life ! The human stomach is one of 
nature’s most marvelous laboratories, 
but still more wonderful is the liver. 
Your liver cells outnumber the very 
stars, yet each cell has perhaps a 
million compartments in which to 
perform the manifold activities of 
that organ’s dozen different functions. 

Teach us the laws of bodily health, 
as well as ministering to the spirit, for 
how close their relationship! How 
beautifully the divine Christ and the 
Bible emphasize this truth. 

LrfIFE promises most of us humans 
the health to do our duty, if only we 
know how to live. We may be weak 
in some respects, but strong in others. 
[3i] 


The Promise of Life 

Nature has its compensations, pro¬ 
vided only we do the bes»t we can. 
We must recognize that w r e are indis¬ 
solubly bound to our fellowmen in 
this life, just as other forms in nature 
are part of the whole. No man can 
so utterly disassociate himself from 
his fellows as to have no impression 
upon them or they upon him. To 
some unknown extent, also, is he in¬ 
fluenced by his predecessors, while 
possibly to a greater unknown degree 
does he influence his descendants. 

THE DOCTRINE OF HEREDITY 

has perhaps done more harm than 
good — for Providence is wise, and 
nature oft repairs the mistakes of 
man — yet for the brain to recall 

[32] 


The Promise of Life 

some vivid first impression (and a 
really first impression is one of the 
rarest and most beautiful things of 
later life), is also to recognize the 
potential effect upon sperm and ovule 
of the sum total of all the impres¬ 
sions of one's lifetime and of eons 
before. 

1 V O the ignorant, the human cell 
is too small to more than convey or 
receive the germ of life. As a matter 
of fact, the human sperm cell is rela¬ 
tively so huge that within it, says 
Carl Snyder, <c might be installed 
27,000 liver cells, each cell containing 
64,000 million living units, and each 
of these units, in turn, made up of 
5000 atoms of various sorts” — cer- 

[33] 


The Promise of Life 

tainly units enough to record and 
perhaps to transmit influences with¬ 
out number! Probably the ovule is 
quite as infinite in the number of its 
components and in their receptive¬ 
ness. Why marvel over atavism ? 

OUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY 

Now we are not responsible for 
being here, but we are responsible 
while we are here. From this latter 
responsibility no one may escape, any 
more than the earth may escape from 
the sun, or our solar system escape 
from the universe. 

Yet experience demonstrates that 
if we do what we can to perform our 
responsibilities here, we are to realize 

[34] 


The Promise of Life 

a deep self-satisfaction which is one 
of the finest of life’s promises. En¬ 
deavor, not achievement, is our great¬ 
est pleasure. This satisfaction will 
be tempered by a conception of how 
far w r e have failed, and inspired by a 
desire for still further endeavor — yet 
an endeavor always within the field 
of each individual. 

No one so poor or so rich he cannot 
aspire for more; 

None so diseased in body, mind or 
spirit but that he may hope for 
better; 

No existence so full of error but that 
some correction may be made; 

No disappointment so absolute that 
hope may not revive; 

No failure so complete as to utterly 
kill the longing for renewed effort; 

[35] 


The Promise of Life 


No discouragement so severe as to 
forever overwhelm encouragement; 
No life so grave that, at times, it may 
not be gay — 

Provided only that, so far as pos¬ 
sible in our human way, we “get into 
gear ” again with nature. 

It is never too late to strive to do 
as we would be done by, and thus 
share the glory that glorifies even 
the humblest well-meant endeavor. 

WHAT AN INSPIRATION 

here for the weak, the poor, the un¬ 
fortunate, the wronged — try again, 
calm follows storm, be not cast down, 
let the soul aspire, be of good cheer, 
remember the widow’s mite — “ she 
hath done what she could 1 ” 


The Promise of Life 


And what a guide for the so- 
called strong and powerful — for 
those persons possessed of great 
mind, vigorous body, iron consti¬ 
tution, earnest will, warm heart,— 
within whom the tumult rages much 
beyond the comprehension of feebler 
mortals, but which when conquered 
adds to their might; yet if the battle 
within such organisms seems at times 
to go against the right and true, re¬ 
pentance for the lapse ever fosters 
ambition onward and upward in the 
path of righteousness. 

Not a cheap strenuosity that vaunt- 
eth much itself, that discourages the 
weak and tires the strong, but an 
earnest ardor to persevere in the 

[37] 


The Promise of Life 

attempt to acquire that poise and 
harmony which will enable each indi¬ 
viduality, each variety, to obey the 
universal law and enjoy the perfect 
unity ! 

THE PROMISE IS 

that we are to delight in the beauty 
and sparkle and joy of nature, as well 
as experience its somber side — we 
are to profit by the fruits of victory 
as well as by the lessons of defeat. 

WE are to get back to the simple 
essentials of life—a little human love, 
good health, the kindly word, absence 
of worry, a natural temperance, the 
thoughtful deed, work well done, 
true pleasure appreciated, reasonable 

[38] 


The Promise of Life 

energy united with wise moderation, 
modesty combined with self-reliance, 
sturdy self-control, divine sympathy 
and genuine inspiration, mutual aid 
and interdependence, yet living our 
own individuality, spiritual vigor, 
some knowledge, a decent compe¬ 
tency, “ plain living and high think¬ 
ing,” civic earnestness, the rights of 
man, the spirit of liberty, real happi¬ 
ness — truth, honesty, integrity, char¬ 
acter, in the individual, the state, the 
world, the universe—a recognition 
of the infinite Oneness, the brother¬ 
hood of man and the fatherhood of 
God. 8 

WE ARE TO SINCERELY ENJOY 

both action and reaction, strife and 
peace, opposition and agreement, 

[39] 


The Promise of Life 

competition and combination, work 
and play, optimism and pessimism, 
hope and fear, success and failure, 
happiness and sorrow, life and even 
death — ever the contention of pos¬ 
itive and negative forces, the always 
interesting variety of life, which it is 
such a privilege to experience. 

But as our years roll on, the 
periods of equilibrium will become 
longer, the vibrations more gentle, 
we shall have rest but not idleness, 
concluding endeavor still glorious, 
our hope of achievement bridging 
the gap from this world as we leave 
it for the next! 


[40] 


The Promise of Life 

More simply, the promise of life is 
summed up in these immortal lines, 
written by my beloved mother: 9 

“ Honest endeavor is ne’er thrown 
away, 

God gathers the failures day by day, 
And weaves them into his perfect 
plan 

In ways that are not for us to scan.” 


[41] 











The Notes 


Note i 

The spinthariscope magnifies a 
tiny speck of radium so that the 
human eye may witness the ever¬ 
lasting discharges of its bright cor¬ 
puscles— the newest and one of the 
greatest marvels, as well as one of 
the most beautiful. The microphone 
magnifies minute sounds so that the 
walk of a fly sounds like the tread 
of cavalry. By speaking or singing 
into the eidophone, voice vibrations 
are registered in the form of lines 
and designs, no two of these voice 
flowers ever being alike! The bo¬ 
lometer measures heat so accurately 
as to detect the presence cf a lighted 
candle half a mile distant. The open- 

[43 ] 


The Promise of Life 

ing and closing of the electric circuit 
which travels in the universal ether 
is accomplished by means of the co¬ 
herer that makes possible wireless 
telegraphy. The galvanometer meas¬ 
ures certain delicate manifestations of 
energy, while the detector reports 
upon magnetic currents. The spec¬ 
troscope reveals by lines and colors 
the composition of substances as 
shown by their light, whether the 
substance is near at hand or as dis¬ 
tant as the stars. 

Note 2 

I am under many obligations to 
Carl Snyder’s book, New Concep¬ 
tions in Science (Harpers, 1904). 
In response to my inquiries upon 
this particular point, Mr. Snyder 
writes: “A galvanometer such as I 
speak of was devised by Paschen, the 

[44] 


The Promise of Life 

German physicist, and is described 
by him in the Zeitschrift fur Instru- 
menten Kunste, volume 13, p. 13, 
1893. The instrument devised by 
Nevust& Dolezalek (same periodical, 
volume 17, p. 65, 1897) is almost 
equally sensitive. They measure 
down to a billionth of an erg — and 
on the word of Prof. Otto Wiener 
(Die Erweiterung Unserer Sinne, p. 
19), one of the most eminent physi¬ 
cists living, the work done in a wink 
of the eye is about 100 ergs — there¬ 
fore equal to 100 billion of the small¬ 
est divisions (which I have called 
units) on these instruments. These 
latter are in fact so delicate that they 
will indicate the degree of interest 
you take in a conversation*—bored 
or excited.” 


[45] 


The Promise of Life 

Note 3 

From Ode to the Organ, by Lucy 
C. (Whittemore) Myrick, written at 
Concord, Mass., in 1876. 

Note 4 

This may be likened to what in 
Sanskrit is so well expressed in the 
term “ Prana.” “ The various forces 
of nature are but expressions of one 
universal, living, intelligent energy. 

. . . All the forces of physical nature, 
like heat, gravitation, electricity, as 
also all mental forces such as mind, 
intellect, thought, are nothing but 
the manifestations of that one living 
self-existent force, Prana.” How to 
Be a Yogi, by Swami Abhedananda, 
The Vedanta Society, New York, 
1902. 


[46] 


The Promise of Life 

Note 5 

The Gate Beautiful, being prin¬ 
ciples and methods in vital art edu¬ 
cation, by John Ward Stimson, 
Trenton, N. J.; Albert Brandt, 1903. 

Note 6 

In The Riddle of the Universe 
(Harpers, 1903) Prof. Ernest 
Haeckel, the greatest of modern 
scientific materialists, avers that the 
soul is non-existent because it can¬ 
not be liquefied (p. 201)! 

Note 7 

It is certain that this underlying 
characteristic of Vedanta philosophy 
was current in India many centuries 
before Christ, as it is to-day and has 
been throughout the historical era. 
It is equally true that occidental con- 

[47] 


The Promise of Life 

ceptions of the promise of life still 
have much to gain from oriental 
thought and practice. For a concise 
presentation of these matters, see 
The Song Celestial, by Sir Edwin 
Arnold. “ Krishna, the Hindu 
Christ, raised the dead nearly four¬ 
teen hundred years before Jesus.” 

Note 8 

From a letter by Rev. H. L. 
Myrick, LL.D., to the author: 

“ Several interesting addresses were 
made to the association after the de¬ 
livery of the foregoing address. In 
one of them, the author’s departure 
was regretted, as the speaker wished 
to inquire if he were correct in his 
impression that this address began 
with monism and ended with dual¬ 
ism. I did not so construe it. All 
philosophical systems and vagaries, 
[48] 


The Promise of Life 

from Thales down to Spencer, may 
be reduced to three: 

“ Material monism , which says, all 
is matter, the idea of spirit is merely 
a figment of the imagination; spirit¬ 
ual monism , which affirms that all is 
spirit, mind, there is no such entity 
as matter, i. e., independent of the 
mind which interprets it; and dual - 
ism, which maintains the existence of 
both matter and spirit, as independ¬ 
ent and usually antagonistic veri¬ 
ties. The position of this address, 
if I understood it correctly, seemed to 
aim at finding a common ground of 
unity, and to imply that this prin¬ 
ciple was mental, and therefore its 
point of view is virtually that of 
spiritual monism.” 

Note 9 

Lucy C. (Whittemore) Myrick, 
died 1879. 


[49] 
































































































\ 

i 












0 





































































OCT 18 1905 





















Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 













LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


































































































































































































































































































































